Trace Element Geochemistry of Volcanic Glass from the Obsidian
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RichardE. Hughes,Geochemca Besearch Laboratory. 9991 Rver 1,4st Way RanchoCordova Caiforn a 956703180 TraceElement Geochemistry of VolcanicGlass from the ObsidianCliffs Flow,Three Sisters Wilderness, Oregon Abstract ,l.hissnrhrrtsundertrkentoinrenig!|.lnnl.n|ia|in|t.v)UR'.trai'.]dnen X jtdemess. Oregon. Gcr 1]rrl.tnrl80rlllhcscttr'nrlarh|rolleight1ocations fnl'cnLr!tnlnabu|dand'sofelerennlinor.trace.u shl8lhJtall1lx]!l]srepresentobsirlialofthesane((]hsirlian(j|ill)gllll of esuiblisling a geochernnal data b6e agonrsl $hi(h urrifucrs fton, Otgorr anlacol,gical sites can be conipared. lntroduction geochcnicul hrundation musl be established. grounded in analvsesreported in intclnational)y L,ntil cluite lecently. obsklian studies have attractecl rccognized measurement units calibrated to inter- little interest flom f)rcgon archacologists. Conse- nationalrock standards.It is only through adher quentlv. studies in the state havc luggcd bchind ence 1o analyticallv rifiorous standar-ds lhal tiroscconducicd in Calilornia uhere. iirr the last rcscarchcrs can begin to build a quantitatile data t\!o decades. archaeologistshavc rcapcd the base lor Oregon obsidians that can bc sharcd b,v benelit-. from thc partncrship ftrrged rvith geo- re!ellrcher'!.rl JiIit rt nt lrl,,'"rlofici. chcmists. There archaeoiogistshave emploved vol- canic glass studics to in!esligate (among other Rer:ognizingthis, the ultimatc goal of what has "obsidian topic-s)dilierences in prehistoric social ranking. corne lo be called sourcing" rescarch prehistorit'Lradeand exchange,ancl thc proclrrc- shoulclscnc trvo crrmplementarypufposes- the ftst tion hjstoricsof obsiclianquarries. Despite this lag. principall,v geor&.emicrzl,thc sccond principall,v ar- the archaeologicalpotential lbr C)rcgonobsidian thaeolo6gcal.Fi-st it rs necessaryto collect and ana- studiesis trul,vcxciling. sincc the state probabll lyze volcanic gla,ssesand to dctcrminc r\,hethel an]' c()ntainsas rnilnv artif:rct-qualitvsources of r.olcanic gcu,ll mi, .rl , r iJ, n, . -,, i.t. fnr irrtrosourcer ari.r' glassas arc knorvnlrorn anv regionof similar size Lilit,v among quarries. Havinpl accomplishcd thc in Lheworld. first strp, these baseJine geochemical data can be ernplo,vedto inrcst;gatc archacological qucsLions Hc,lever. belore the bencfits of obsirlian "lingerprinting" regarding the long term use-lifc history of obsid- studics(in this casc.geochernical ian quarrics,prchistoric tlacle and enchange.and or "sourcing")can be accruedarchacologically, it mobility patterns. The research reportcd hcrc t'us is first necessarr to locatc and geochemicall-v undefiaken to inrcstigatc only the firsLoI these t\vo characlerizepar-ent geologic soulces (and sourcc "proh1es." tvpes).since it is to thc gcochcrnical or "fingerprints." of thesevolcanic glasscs that rnea- The Problems surementson archaeologicalartilacts till be com- paretl. Despitethc initial skcpticismfor obsidi:rn The present studv is not thc first (scc Willians studicslhat hrlloweddisclosure of mistakesin both [94.X] for a geologicdescription ol the florJ to x-r:ry analvtical techniques and statistical tlassifi- generate trace element data for Obsidian Cliffs vol- cationsof obsitliarrsorrrccs ancl aftifacls through- canic glassbut. comparedto the geochernicaland oul Oregon (Sappington I98la,b; Tocpcl and archaeomelric attention deloted to the nearbv Sapping'ronl9{12; see Hughes 1984). subsequent Ncnbcrry Volcano(e.g. Laidlel' and NIcKayI971: studies(c.g. Hughcs l9B6a. b; Sknner 198i3)hale Higgins 1973: Fricdman 1977; Macleocl ancl realizedsome ol thc potcntid of such work. and Sherrod I9BB). researchon thc ClilTsis considcr- h.rr.cchartcd sornepronrising research directions. abh lcsscxlcnsive and detailed.Despite the work But belbre anv conlidence can be placcd in or- conducted ltl date. three problems remained which thacological ap1)iL:ationsof olisidian studies a solid requircd furthcr r-csearch.First. geochcmical NorLhwesLScience, Vol. 67, No. 3, 1993 199 le 199:l l,\ lhc \odhrell S, ienriii,' Asrri.rli,''. All 'iglt' rtlrr\rd mcasurernentson obsiclianfrom thc Clilii (r\nLto- serrcd rt 1 l l2 localities.lhe intcnsitvofsuch ac- nen 1972; S. Tlughcs1983; -qkinner191313) remain tivitics (bascd on .lualitalive imJrrcssionsof the unpublishecland thc lcsults have not been l idcl-v :rmount of quarrv-t'orkshop deblis on thc surface) di-.seminaLr:d.Scurnd. Obsidian (ilifl'-sgla-<s was r.lrricd considerablv across collection siLes. The characLerizedon thc basis oi an ertremelv snrall field collcctionphase uas designcdlo obtain sam, nurnberofanalvscs; Skinner (1983). for exarnplc. ples spanningthc full rangeofvisual ,,arictics(i.e.. reporlcrl analvses for onl,v live elr-'nrcntson lbur colof-rand le\lurc rariations)in Lhehope that, iI srnrplcs. but it t:rs mol allogethcr cic to t'hat eri- macroscollic \ ariation * as encocledgeochemicalJv, tent these rneasurelrrrnls r-r:flcctedthe range ofge- it might be possibleto idcntiiv subtle inrrasourcc ochemicalvariabilitv in the soulce.'fhird. arralvscs distinctions.Red-ancl-black mottlcd obsidian was underl:rlen Lo{lele \rcl-c csscntiallvd,estnLctirc: th rnll-,t-,1hum.ur /r-ri/r/o,1urrrr,-.rt .r plomi- i-. -u,ne I'ortinrr,,f t1'. ;,,,1,,vi' .peeirnensa- nence along the $'estern margin of the Obsidian crushed and ground inlo a finc pot'der prior to Cliffs flol (loc:rtioni106. src Figurc l). nhile rna- \ravrlcngth dispe rsir e r-rav fluorescence hoHanvcolored varietieswer-e obscrved and col- (WD\RF: see Skinner 1983: Appendix V. p. 6) lectcrlat locations771,779 and 789 and 7148. and neutron acLivationrnl vsis. While this proce- l)espite a prcviouslvreported occurrcncc of red dule has a Lrnghistorv in gcochemistn.re(:ent ad- obsidian aL OLsidian Clifls {C. Slinner. pcrs. vances in cornputer-l)ascdspcctnlm clecoD!oluLion cornm.).lhc prc\.ailingconlention among local ar- -r.I'r',.rtirre-Jnd aut,,m,rticmrtrir-,:llect t.rnectiorr chaeolopfstshas been that glass ol red or red-anrl- I'r,'yr.rm.h.rr" errrl,ledtlro-. .rrr1,1,,rirrg, rr, rgr black phvsicallppearance must havc bccn con- rJispcrsivc:<-ray lluorescence {liD\RF) on r.olcanic veved liom sourccs to the east ofthe Cascaclcs(c.g. glasscsto condud tbn-desutt(tite qlirntitative a:ral Cluss Buttes) where red obsidiuns are well-knor,in lscs oi hoth geologicsource samplcs and archaeo- (C. Davis. pers. comm.). IogicalartilacLs (see llughcs 1986a. b: l9BBa. h). The choicc olparlicular site crrllec{ionsfor sub Although traditionalWDXRF anahsis is crpable scquerlt analr'sis t'as inlluenced by of dctr:ctingslightll- lowel concenlrationsof ccr €ieochemical the prc'ccding factols and bv the areal cxtcnt nnd La;rlelements than stateol-the-arL energv dispcr- abundanceof observedquarrw-t'orLshop debris. si\e inslfum cntation, this ndvantage is offsct in Lacking any clear unclerstandingof thc production on:|uetioglnl ,rppLc:ationsfrecarrse porlions of ar- history oi thc Obsidian Clills quarries (i.c., hot' lifacts arc srcriiicecl(i.e.. grouncl into a porrder) long thev were usr:d, what kinds oi prehistoric: prior to WDXltl' anrlvsis(Skinner l9B3: Appen- nanulicturing attivities r!erc undcfiaken at each. rlir IX. p. 12, li: seealso \elson 2Bj). [1984: rr;helher or rroLthcir usc-life hi-"torieshacl changccl In light ofthc'closccomparison beL*een WDXRF. throughtime). it seemedacl,'isablc to focus initial ED\RF arrd neulron lctivation measlrementson researchelforls on thc quarries(sites) which had obsidian from lhe sarn{rsourccs (seeHughes 19114: thc greatest surl;ce clerrsiticsof arlifact manufac- Table ll: 1986b: Tablc 4; 19BBa:T:rble II: Hughcs turing dcbris on the assumptionthat such densi- ancl\elson 1987: Table l) and archaeologl.'scr- ties could scnc as general indic,atorsof the it , ,' r r - . rr .r t i , , r r , tlri,. it -""m", I rn,,-trg'1,ru1,ri- I'lir irnportance nf cacfi source in the past. Consc- ate k) e\lend thc non-dcstmctire rnethrxl ofanalvsi,. qrrcntlv, of the trr'elvecollecting lrrcations,samples to Oreplonobsidians-spccificallv. to the Obsiclial liom eiglrt(rros. 7 7 4. 77 5. 77 7, 7 7B, 7 82. 7 I 06 " (lliliis (see :rlso Hughcs J9B6a). 7138. and 7148 on Figure2) werelatcr subjected to x-rav lluorcsccncc analvsis. Field Reconnaissanceand Collection LaboratoryAnalysis: (|bsidiansorrrcc spccimens were obtainedfrorn l2 Methods oulcrops aL,and adjacentto. Obsidian Clifis (scr: Laboralorv in\,estigationsvcre performed on a !'igures I anrJ2). Obsenationswere rnadedLrring Spcctracc"*5000 (Tracor X-ray) cncrgy clispersive thc lield reconnaissarrrephasc rcgarding the qual- x-rav lluorescenoe sfcclrometer equipped r,rith a itr ,,l ul^idi,rn.rl ea,lr ,.. rrlr-n,,. r.rrirrtiun-in rhodium (Rh) x-r'avtlrbe. a 5O kV r-ray gelr:r.r, glass tcxhre and color and. in parlicular. er.idence tor. ancl a Si(Li) solid statc detector with 150 c\r 1br prehistolic utilization at cach location. Although rcsolution(FWHN{) at 5.9 kcV in a 30 mm2 area. some elidence lir'prehistoric qualrving i!'asoh- Thc x-nw tube l'as operated aL30.0 kV. 0.30 mA. 200 lTughcs /-- iX | Figure L Aerial lieir ro sorrth,ast acn,ss Lhr: Ohsirlirn Ulills llo\L (lo$ef leli in phoro). with Colier Cone and th.i \,)fLh Sin.r if bockground. Arron speciliesthe reiririui ol tht llo{. shn,l, ,orhi)onds $irh ollection locarion i106 o! Fisur. 2. using r 0.127 mnr Ilh primarr beam lilter in an elemenLintensilics \rcrc con\.cr1cdto concentration air path at 200 scconclslivctimc to fienerate )i-rav estimatesbl elnplovinga lcast-squarcscalibration intensitv dala lor elemr:nts Zn (Ko). Gt (Kcv.|.llb line establishecllbl each element